Not your every day, run of the mill snapshots many of these will be showing up in area photographic competitions this next year!

After basically plastic wrapping the studio we were set to splash some very cool and talented athletes.

Ultimately we dumped nearly 20 gallons of water! The dancers posed and jumped and we dumped, poured and splashed anyone willing to take it! YES! I’ll be doing this again! I’ll streamline the setup a bit and refine it but THIS concept is simply too cool to let go.

Thanks to my friend Barb Adleman from Elan Studios/Bloomington for coming down to assist, my many moms who appreciate my weird ideas and sense of humor and of course Jake for schlepping 20 gallons of warm water and helping clean up!

My son Jake,​ and a lucky group of guys from Belleville’s Boy Scout Troop 553 are leaving tomorrow for a trip they will never forget. Along with two adult supervisors, they are boarding the train in St. Louis and riding west, then transferring to a bus which will take them to the Boy Scout’s Philmont Ranch, the BSA’s premiere high adventure camp near Cimarron, New Mexico. Jake and his crew will spend about 7 days hiking through some of New Mexico’s very beautiful and mountainous countryside. They’ll carry everything from clothes to water to tents and sleeping bags as well as several days worth of food rations which they can restock at predetermined lock boxes every few days. Jake and crew will come back with plenty of stories (I doubt if we hear even a fraction of them)… Of course I hope and pray for their safe travels, but maybe even more important, I hope for them to come back stronger, more confident and if possible even more independent: Prepared to take on whatever the future has in store for them. Don’t tell them I said that… they think they’re just gonna have fun

Jake and his carefully selected gear for his trek.

]]>http://doughowellphotography.com/philmont/feed/0Lemp Brewery Model Shoothttp://doughowellphotography.com/lemp-brewery-model-shoot/
http://doughowellphotography.com/lemp-brewery-model-shoot/#commentsMon, 15 Jun 2015 17:57:29 +0000http://doughowellphotography.com/?p=2296Fabulously fabulous! Working with experienced models is the best… and when they’re patient, can interpret bad direction, AND have that indescribable quality that somehow helps images jump off the screen… you’re in a happy place!

I needed a model for a photo session with friend and fellow master photographer, Paul Rogers who was gonna be visiting for a weekend of image making and Becca McFly was my first choice to lend a hand. Becca has helped me with a few ideas over the last few years as I’ve worked toward my PPA Master degree.

“Flying Lady” Earned a merit from the PPA’s 2013 international image competition:

The venue chosen was also one of my favorite places to shoot: The Lemp Brewery. A short call to Jimi Gunn and we had the grungy old dark and creepy place to ourselves (with the exception of a few musicians who use portions of the ghost ridden warehouse as practice space).

This is seriously my favorite space to shoot in here at the Lemp bottle works building.
Big dirty windows create wonderfully soft light!

In the image above Becca is rocking the top of Jimi’s baby grand in one of his many music studio spaces.

For you photo techies we were both shooting with Nikon D800s paired with all 2.8 glass. From wide 12mm to the tightly compressed end of my 70-200mm or Paul’s 300 prime we worked with a mix of low ambient window light and my Paul Buff Einstein with beauty dish powered by a Vagabond. Almost exclusively shooting tripod mounted helps you be more thoughtful and allows you to be more meticulous creating the feel of an image (this is where a patient, self motivated model is critical. Thanks again Becca).

I can’t wait to schedule a senior shoot day over at the Lemp Brewery and make some seriously cool images for some exceptional seniors! STAY TUNED for booking information!

Anastasia came to visit yesterday! As a young model in the St. Louis area it’s tough to get a portfolio developed… and Kevin Long’s The Edge Agency does a great job of doing just that. Kevin has always been a supporter of the local and state photography groups trying to supply models for various functions while getting these up and coming young models some valuable camera time.

Anastasia has a fabulous physique and a killer smile so with the right connections and a bit more studio time she just might show up in one of your next magazines or catalogs! Thanks to Anastasia & her mom for making the long trek to visit my studio!

]]>http://doughowellphotography.com/anastasia/feed/0Slick. Smooth. Suave. Traveon.http://doughowellphotography.com/slick-smooth-suave-traveon/
http://doughowellphotography.com/slick-smooth-suave-traveon/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 11:55:24 +0000http://doughowellphotography.com/?p=2238This guy shows up today almost an hour early for his model session! That’s cool. He is READY. Traveon is working toward a recording deal… producing a CD… hoping to make a splash. We only spent a couple hours in the studio but you get a quick feel that Traveon just might be THAT smooth operator… I’ll share his progress as things develop but keep your eyes and ears tuned in for the name: Traveon.
]]>http://doughowellphotography.com/slick-smooth-suave-traveon/feed/0Autumn & Ryan Maternity Shoothttp://doughowellphotography.com/autumn-ryan-maternity-shoot/
http://doughowellphotography.com/autumn-ryan-maternity-shoot/#commentsSun, 25 Jan 2015 04:21:29 +0000http://doughowellphotography.com/?p=2092
I’ve not had the opportunity to shoot many maternity sessions so I was super excited when Autumn asked me to work with her and Ryan to document their family to be. She did some Pinterest searching and sent along a few ideas that she wanted to emulate which I’m sure required a bit of shopping for those super cute tennis shoes!

After finishing a big bunch of these super cute images I grabbed a few of my favorites and made this short sample video to share with mommy and daddy to be

]]>http://doughowellphotography.com/autumn-ryan-maternity-shoot/feed/0Marching Lancer’s Florida trip DVDs are available!http://doughowellphotography.com/marching-lancers-florida-trip-dvds-are-available/
http://doughowellphotography.com/marching-lancers-florida-trip-dvds-are-available/#commentsMon, 19 Jan 2015 01:58:15 +0000http://doughowellphotography.com/?p=2084Many of you have seen the cool movie created with a ton of our images from the Florida trip and MANY of you have asked how to get your copy…. here’s the breakdown.

Here’s a link to a preview the video (not the finished version though)

]]>http://doughowellphotography.com/marching-lancers-florida-trip-dvds-are-available/feed/0Bellevillle East travels to the Outback Bowlhttp://doughowellphotography.com/b-east-travels-to-the-outback-bowl/
http://doughowellphotography.com/b-east-travels-to-the-outback-bowl/#commentsSat, 27 Dec 2014 22:56:36 +0000http://doughowellphotography.com/?p=1988SATURDAY – Travel Day
Today we’re aboard four tour busses headed to Florida with the Belleville East Bands. Almost 150 band members along for the ride, we’re headed to Tampa for the New Year’s Day Outback Bowl.

First we’ll hit Universal Studio Theme Park for a couple days of play as well as a concert band workshop.

I’ve traveled with these kids a few times over the last few years and I’ve always been impressed with just how good this number of kids can be. I look forward to a fun trip and will post more as our trip progresses.
One among many tables of kids waiting to board.

Hoping we find our real driver soon!
Mr. T and his fleet.

SUNDAY MORNING – Universal Studios

Who knew “sleeping” on a bus could feel so little like sleep?!? After several stops overnight for restroom breaks and oh yeah.. so the driver could buy a fan to clear the window so she could see! We’re almost to our breakfast destination.. maybe if a booth is available we’ll sleep better at the Golden Corral

Here’s the bus in “sleep” mode.

MONDAY

Today our Bellevillle East concert bands got to participate in a pretty cool workshop being offered by Universal Studios. The STARS program introduces high school musicians to the music & foley recording process.

Playing along with an old Frankenstein movie the bands were recorded by Universal sound engineers. Along with the full musical score, soloists and small groups added tracks to the music bed as well as a few band members were selected to accent the soundtrack with maniacal laughs and evil zombie groans.

The Universal STARS recording technicians will polish the soundtrack then provide a downloadable version for the students to save and share online.

After the recording sessions we finished up our visit to the Universal parks before heading to Tampa for more musical vacation fun!

TUESDAY – Competition Day

WHEW! Today was pretty action packed! ALL of Belleville East’s bands performed in competition/workshops today! We heard from the Symphonic Band • Symphonic Wind Ensemble • Wind Ensemble • Jazz Ensemble • Concert Jazz Orchestra
AND we finished with a Marching Band field show!!!

It rained and sprinkled and misted and rained some more pretty much all day… [and the bands had to walk about a block from the hotel to the concert hall in this lousy weather]. They plodded through the rain, prepared and performed with a level of excellence that we have all come to expect from these groups. Most every performance ends with a critique from each of three highly experienced judges. These guys not only critique though… they suggest alternative ways to interpret, play and hear the music. They have the students re-play sections of their music incorporating these new ideas and insights – just as if they were working with professional session musicians – the kids really seem to dig being mentored in this way, treated with such respect…. and my admiration for this group of kids and the Belleville East band program grows with each and every performance!

Maybe best of all we were able to finish this evening with a SENIORS only group shot! This is a superb group of young people that we are very fortunate to have in our program!

WEDNESDAY – Rehearsal & Parade
Imagine trying to coordinate 26 band units totaling nearly 3000 members into one monster halftime show! Luckily that was organized by the Outback Bowl folks and it was obvious they’ve done this before.

Drums. Brass. Winds. Flags. All sections set up and rehearsed separately then combined on the practice field. It is mighty cool to experience 26 drum lines up close! Twenty-six bands worth of trumpets!

The real kicker is that all 3000 kids and pit equipment and props have about 60 seconds to get in position on the field before the show… then again to get off the field after the show. After 60 seconds two football teams will be seriously wanting to use the field again!

That was this morning’s practice. Now we’re heading to The Outback Bowl parade. Again… imagine a parade where just about every other unit is a large marching band. If you enjoy marching bands…. THIS should be one heck of a show!!

Finally tonight, we get to go to Busch Gardens with our 3000 newest friends! We’ll ring in the new year with a fabulous fireworks display… then hightail it back to the hotel.. sleep.. wake.. checkout.. perform at the bowl game and enjoy our bus ride home to a very cold Bellevillle… but more on that and photos from today tomorrow.

Happy New Years!We did it. We made it to Tampa’s OutBack Bowl. The band played with a gazillion other bands… but first you have to hike a mile or so from the bus parking lot!!!

Finally we made it to stadium and it really was pretty cool to watch the kids perform and imagine the behind the scenes coordination that it takes to pull this off!

We loaded busses and started the long 20 hour drive home AND the Belleville East Marching Lancers came away with a ton of awards from the week!

Yup. That’s a lot of hardware to bring home!!! It’s been a pretty fabulous week… We’re really fortunate that these kids are so decent when traveling (who knows what they do away from the group

I’m so very happy to have the opportunity to join in on these trips and can’t wait to see where else we can go with this very large family – even if we are rather dysfunctional sometimes

]]>http://doughowellphotography.com/b-east-travels-to-the-outback-bowl/feed/0Bodybuilding with Ruthhttp://doughowellphotography.com/bodybuilding-with-ruth/
http://doughowellphotography.com/bodybuilding-with-ruth/#commentsWed, 19 Nov 2014 19:36:17 +0000http://doughowellphotography.com/?p=1904Recently I reached out to Shiloh’s Anytime Fitness manager Ruth Riley… she liked the idea of creating some portfolio images as she continues to work out and fine tune her body… and I’m launching a new program with a few local gyms and other locations are in the works as well. Ruth did her homework and brought all the right pieces to make her session go well… classic fitness apparel, a couple bikinis and a sassy dress or two. She even brought a few Pinterest ideas and admitted to practicing a few of the poses at home to be sure we could work them out in the studio easily.

So whether you’re a competitive body builder or simply want to document your self looking your best give me a shout and I’ll do my best to highlight all your favorite things about yourself!

]]>http://doughowellphotography.com/bodybuilding-with-ruth/feed/0Breakfast with a friend.http://doughowellphotography.com/breakfast-with-a-friend/
http://doughowellphotography.com/breakfast-with-a-friend/#commentsThu, 13 Nov 2014 02:48:23 +0000http://doughowellphotography.com/?p=1818Met up with a friend recently over a fine Denny’s breakfast. We don’t talk much these days. See each other even less. So of course it was good to catch up. He’d been a working professional photographer for most his adult life but a few years ago hung it up mostly and took on a different line of work completely out of the imaging business…

Jokingly (sort of) he’ll say that talking about photography makes him itchy… even being around other photogs makes him itch and scratch.

So after all the pleasantries of chatting about family and work and such (we actually skipped the weather talk). He told me I need to invest in a good porcelain sink. Yes. Our conversations tend to… drift… significantly. Of course I wonder why a sink. And a porcelain sink at that. Then without so much as a flinch or a scratch or an itch he told me about the amazing Light that comes through his bathroom window of a morning.

It seems Light pours through the little window and fills the bright, white, porcelain sink. But unlike the morning’s first splash of water, the sink cannot hold the Light. It becomes luminescent and bathes the subject before it with a refreshing glow… that kind of glow that supermodels love to see applied. Instant wrinkle remover and much much more

If you start shopping for reflectors and modifiers you’ll find hundreds of things folks have devised to make Light more controllable… but the mother of all reflectors just might be the humble bathroom sink. White and clean of course.

We discussed using this as a light shaping tool. Think of the beautiful headshots. Hard for anyone to figure out such an exotic, secret recipe! I imagine actors and models would be flocking to our bathroom sink studio to bask in the glory of its luminescent glow!

The interesting thing here is not a new lighting solution. Image makers have probably been using all kinds of make shift solutions since the first caveman broke his printer and had to blow ink through little grass straws.

What I found interesting is the unconscious recognition of Light.. with direction… and qualities too yummy to ignore. I remember hearing guys talk about Light – about seeing Light. The wrap of a soft light. The triangles and shapes. I didn’t get it. But once the mind’s eye is trained to really see Light and it’s even more interesting counterpart, Shadow, it continuously evaluates the yummy factor in pretty much every scene it encounters. For me, I’ve just started seeing Light and Shadow… a couple years ago a couple brain cells clicked and I started taking note of it as I pass by random people on the street or watch folks on the train ride into work.

Light. Such an obvious thing to see… so easily taken for granted… and even harder to capture it’s infinite qualities.